Huskies Edge Out Friars 4-3

Friday night’s game was a little more special to Huskies Head Coach Jim Madigan as his team donned their Skating Strides pink jerseys in support of those affected by breast cancer. Coach Madigan’s own wife, Kim, is a survivor and she was on hand for the ceremonial puck drop before the Northeastern University Huskies took on the Providence College Friars at Matthews Arena.

There was a little bit of activity for the Huskies about five minutes into the opener where they peppered Michael Lackey with a few shots, but much of the first half of that first period was spent skating hard north and south as both teams were intent on denying the other any offensive momentum.

One of the things that many hockey teams have learned is that if you give Tyler Madden the puck and some time and space then he is definitely going to find a way to get the puck in back of the net, and Friday night was no different. A costly turnover by the Friars saw Madden jump out into the neutral zone with the puck on his stick and before the Friars could catch him, he was in the Friars end and the puck was in the net behind Lackey. That was Madden’s 17th goal of the season and it was unassisted. That was Northeastern’s fifth shot on net and it certainly gave them some new emotion.

At 17:53 of the opener, Matt DeMelis gave the Huskies a second goal simply by being in the crease area. The goal was reviewed to make sure he hadn’t kicked it in, the call on the ice stood and as the period came to a close the Huskies took the 2-0 lead into the intermission.

The second period saw an increase in physicality from both teams. It also saw a dangerous five-on-three situation where the Huskies were on the penalty killing end. First Jordan Harris was whistled for a holding and then Matt Filipe joined him for an elbowing. With three seconds remaining on the five-on-three, the Providence Friars cut Northeastern’s lead in half as Jack Dugan notched his eighth of the season, assisted by Greg Printz and Patrick Moynihan at 3:34. The Huskies were able to kill off the remaining time on Filipe’s penalty.

Before the teams could get too comfortable at even strength the Huskies found themselves on a power play when Dugan was sent off for hooking. However, Northeastern’s power play couldn’t convert.  About 30 seconds after their man advantage ended they were probably wishing they had some wiggle room in the score. Biagio Lerario was given a five-minute major for hitting from behind along with a 10-minute misconduct for his hit on Printz right in front of the visiting Friars’ bench. Certainly not the best way to help his team.

During the five-minute major, Mike Kesselring sacrificed his body to deny a possible early shot on the Friar’s power play and then Craig Pantano sent a puck flying off his blocker. In the end the Huskies were able to kill Lerario’s penalty, though the Friars had put quite a few shots on Pantano. Denying any team who has a major power play can certainly tilt the ice a bit. And while they were being outshot, it was clear that the Huskies recognized how big that kill was and you could see them regaining some control on the ice.

McDonough, whose eight goals have all been on the power play, got his first even strength goal of the season,  assisted by Madden, and Jayden Struble and gave Northeastern back their two-goal lead.

And once again, the Friars refused to go away. While falling, Moynihan put the puck blocker side high and it was a one-goal game.

While the Huskies were leading on the scoreboard , it could have definitely gone a completely different way, because the Friars had outshot Northeastern 12-4 during the second period.

Coming back out for the third, it was evident that both teams felt they could achieve the win. As the Friars Dugan knotted things up just 2:28 into the final frame it became clear that the game was going to be decided by a single goal. The question was whether or not the winning team could get it done in regulation.

The Friars continued to put pucks on Pantano—ultimately forcing him to stop 16 in the third—for a total of 33 shots of which he stopped 30. Even though it was the Huskies with the power play just after Dugan’s goal, it didn’t seem to given Northeastern much of a momentum shift.  However, Northeastern’s hockey team has been down a goal and sometimes two and they know what it takes to get the win. They were not phased by Dugan’s third period goal—his second of the game. Nor were they letting the Friars number of shots distract them from what they were trying to do. They kept at it. And when they found themselves back on the man advantage at 13:09 when Friar Parker Ford was sent off for hooking, they put their impressive power play into high gear.

They got into the Friars end and then after some solid cycling, a chance opened up. Harris, from the blue line sent the puck to McDonough who was below the goal on the right. He saw Zach Solow in the slot and dished him a pass. Tic. Tac. Goal. The Huskies were ahead 4-3 with 5:30 remaining in regulation.

Depsite the pulling of Lackey at 18:56, the Huskies knew the game was now theirs to lose, and they weren’t going to let that happen.

They won’t be able to dwell too long on Friday’s win because February begins on Saturday, which means that the first Monday of the Beanpot is just three days away. Northeastern takes on Harvard in the first semi-final at TD Garden, no doubt looking to see if they can go to the Championship game for a third straight year.